Five Black Faculty Members Appointed to New Posts

Andre Churchwell, who holds the Levi Watkins Jr. M.D. Chair and is a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, has been given the added responsibilities as chief diversity officer at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Churchwell is a magna cum laude graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. He earned his medical degree at Harvard University.

Daphne Bernard, an associate professor and former interim dean of the College of Pharmacy at Howard University in Washington, D.C., has been given the added duties of associate provost for institutional accreditation and assessment.

A licensed pharmacist in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Dr. Bernard earned her doctor of pharmacy degree at Howard University.

Ermias Kebreab, the holder of the Sesnon Endowed Chair in the department of animal science at the University of California, Davis, was named associate vice provost for academic programs in global affairs. Dr. Kebreab also serves as director of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute.

Dr. Kebreab is a graduate of the University of Asmara in Eritrea. He holds a master’s degree in integrative biology and a Ph.D. in ecological modeling from the University of Reading in England.

Shontavia Johnson was named to the Kern Family Chair in Intellectual Property Law at the Drake Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. She also was appointed director of the Intellectual Property Law Center at the law school. She joined the faculty at the law school in 2010.

Professor Johnson is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina, where she majored in biosystems engineering. She earned her law degree at the University of Arkansas.

T. Elon Dancy II, a professor in adult and higher education at the University of Oklahoma with affiliate appointments in African and African American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, has been named the inaugural associate dean for community engagement and academic inclusion at the university’s Jeannie Rainbolt College of Education.

Dr. Dancy received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He holds a master of health administration degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Ph.D. in higher education administration with distinction from Louisiana State University.